Seoul, Jul 27 (IANS): North Korean leader Kim Jong-un marked the 67th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War by visiting a war cemetery and presenting army officers with pistols, state-media said on Monday.

Kim paid homage at the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery to commemorate the anniversary of the armistice, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in the report.

The armistice signed on July 27, 1953, left South and North Korea technically in a state of war, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The North has designated the date as Victory Day.

"The undying feats of the defenders of the fatherland in the 1950s, who provided the valuable mental heritage of the revolution amid the flames of the hard-fought war, would shine long in history," Kim was quoted as saying in the KCNA report.

The KCNA said Kim also held a ceremony on Sunday afternoon at the headquarters of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee and presented newly developed "Mount Paektu" commemorative pistols to leading commanding officers of the armed forces on the occasion of the anniversary.

Mount Paektu is the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula and is considered the sacred birthplace of the Korean people.

The North claims that national founder Kim Il-sung led anti-Japanese guerrilla forces at the mountain to fight for independence from the 1910-45 colonial rule and that late leader Kim Jong-il, father of the current leader, was born there.